


stuck in the middle zone, I just want you alone

by ORiley42



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Episode: s01e04 White Knights, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 08:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8243480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ORiley42/pseuds/ORiley42
Summary: After that night of flirtation and pickpocketing with Dr. Vostok in 1x04 White Knights (in which Ray failed it and Len nailed it) things take a decidedly different turn...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Lady Gaga's "Perfect Illusion"

“Gentlemen, I trust everything went according to plan at the Bolshoi?” Rip inquired as Ray and Len swept out of the frosty Russian night air and onto the bridge of the Waverider.

“Piece of cake,” Ray grinned, “Made contact with Vostok and swiped her badge.”

“Thanks to me,” Len cut in, “Pretty boy here just froze his _ass_ off.”

Ray opened his mouth as if to disagree but then paused, visibly rethinking his next words. He shifted his weight back and crossed his arms, finally saying, “So....you think I’m pretty.”

Len blinked and then narrowed his eyes.

“Pretty _useless_ ,” he shot back, just a beat too late.

Mick and Sara exchanged glances behind him, eyebrows raised.

“Well,” Rip interrupted, oblivious to the subtle personal dynamics shifting in front of him, “We can’t move on this information till morning. I suggest that you all get some rest, and prepare for tomorrow’s adventures.” He dragged his eyes once around the room before stomping away. The rest of the team slowly filtered out in pairs, leaving Ray and Len still engaged in a staring contest that they were both intent on winning, though neither of them had a clue what the stakes were.

“Is trying to prove your romantic merit really the best thing you could be doing with your time?” Snart sneered, continuing their argument where they’d left off.

“ _Me_? Prove my— _please_ ,” Ray scoffed. “I'll have you know I was the Casanova of my doctorate program.”

“Is that supposed to be _impressive_?”

“Yes!”

“Please, _Raymond_ , you couldn't seduce your way out of a paper bag.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you’re wrong.”

“Tonight’s debacle with the lovely Miss Vostok leads me to believe otherwise.”

“That is unfair. You’re only working with a lone data point, that’s not _nearly_ enough to then postulate a generalized assessment of my seduction skills –”

“Ah, _lecturing_ about _statistics_ – you’re proving me wrong, Raymond, there’s nothing sexier than that.”

Somewhere along the line of their bickering, they’d stepped closer together, toes almost touching, the only thing between them a thin line of welding on the bulkhead of the Waverider beneath their boots, and a few universe’s worth of difference in worldview and morality. Neither Ray nor Len let that stop them for long.

Ray raised a hand to emphasize his point and Len grabbed it, using it to pull Ray in close and crush their lips together. Ray sank instantly into the kiss as if he’d been waiting for it, arms coming down around Len’s shoulders to pull him in even tighter. After a glorious minute of exploration and heat (and Gideon quietly shifting calculations as to her inhabitant’s futures) Ray’s shock at their sudden embrace made a belated appearance. He froze before recoiling wildly, his eyes going comically wide and his fingers flying up to poke tentatively at his own mouth like it was a foreign object. Or perhaps, like it had been acting of its own volition.

“That was...” Ray trailed off, looking more dazed than he had the first time they’d travelled through time.

“Wrong?” Snart suggested, tone razor sharp, “Inappropriate? _Immoral_?”

“I was gonna say...hot,” Ray finally admitted.

A grin spread slowly across Snart’s face, sinking into the lines around his eyes and mouth as he replied, “Good answer.”

“You know, Cold – uh, Snart? Leonard?” Ray’s eyebrows did a complicated dance as his thoughts veered wildly off-track. “What should I even call you now that we’re gonna be doing whatever we’re doing, I mean, there’s not exactly a protocol on naming conventions when you hook up with a criminal slash time-traveling legend and oh, I’m doing that thing where I say everything that goes through my head out loud aren’t I, I should probably –”

Len rolled his eyes hugely before cutting him off with a searing kiss. When they came up for air, he murmured against Ray’s mouth, “‘Len’ will do just fine.”

Ray leaned back in but Len took a neat step back, and then another, smirk growing as he moved swiftly out of Ray’s arms and across the room.

Ray’s feet seemed stuck as he watched Snart – _Len_ – slipping away towards the shadows. "Where are you going?” he asked, voice echoing weakly around the room.

“To bed,” Len replied flippantly, “Care to join me?”

Ray barely hesitated a moment before following. “What the hell,” he decided aloud as he threw his hands in the air.

Len smirked. “Three words that always lead to the most memorable of nights.”

A few dozen steps and what felt like an eternity of building tension, and they were standing outside of Len’s room.

Len turned to Ray with a sharp click of his heels.  “Now, Raymond, you are aware this isn’t _love_ ,” Len packed that word with as much venom as he was capable, “correct? Because trust me when I say I think Kendra has filled the quota for broken hearts on this ship quite well.”

Len watched Ray’s expression and stance carefully, wondering if his harsh words had snapped the genius out of whatever trance he was in that had led him to march himself cheerily towards Len’s bed.

“Oh, I know.” Ray’s face, instead of hardening with distaste as Len had somewhat feared (hoped?) it might, broke into a wide grin. It had, Len noted with interest, a distinct flavor of wildness to it that he hadn’t noticed before; like maybe, the billionaire boy scout had more tucked away in his psyche than Len gave him credit for.

“I know this isn’t love, _Cold_ ,” Ray leaned slowly forward into Len’s space, “this is something…” Ray reached out a cautious hand to skim along Len’s jawline, “something _else_.”

“Well, then,” Len snapped his hand out to grab a fistful of Ray’s jacket and drag him through the futuristic doors that slid open behind him, “let’s find out what that something else is.”

**Author's Note:**

> I started to write this back when the episode aired, and decided to finally finish it for the ColdAtom week on Tumblr.... let me know what you thought! <333


End file.
